Chinese Listing Reveals PS Vita Imposter, Droid X360

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Runs Android 4.0, looks like a Vita, and comes with old Nintendo games.

By Dan Crabtree

Coming out of China this week is news of a recently unveiled phone/handheld console from Shenzhen Xun Long, the Droid X360. What's remarkable about this mini-tablet isn't the Android 4.0 operating system, the 1.5 GHz processor, the 512 MB of RAM, the 8GB of on-board storage, the 5-inch capacitive touchscreen, the HDMI Out port, or even the front and rear cameras.

This machine impresses with its brilliant visual forgery and an unexpected library of classic games.

The Droid X360 doesn't just look like the PS Vita; it's practically a carbon copy on the exterior. Check out the opaque shoulder buttons, the placement of the joysticks, D-pad, and face buttons. Hell, the display bevel even looks identical. Except for the name on the front and the Android logo on the rear, this knockoff could easily fool an uninformed consumer. That's probably what the manufacturer is banking on.

To be fair, the Droid X360 is clearly built with gaming as its primary function. But because this device is not, in fact, a Sony product as its aesthetic implies, or a Microsoft product as the name implies, it can't boast the same gaming software that Sony and Microsoft use to sell their expensive hardware. Rather, the Droid X360 has taken advantage of the largely unregulated market of old games from consoles like Nintendo 64, SEGA Genesis, Game Boy Advance, NES, and SNES to draw consumers.

The device will apparently ship with nine emulators able to play ROMs of beloved games like 40-Winks, Bomberman Hero, Bust-A-Move 2, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Forsaken 64, F-Zero X, Rockman (a Japanese Mega Man game), Batman NES, Super Smash Bros. (All Star! Duranto Smash Bros. in Japan), Final Fight, and (who could forget?) Cadillacs & Dinosaurs. And because it runs on the Android platform, the handheld also has access to Android games like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja.

To see this nostalgic knockoff in action, check out the video above, book a flight to China when the Droid X360 hits the Folex market.